Cause vs Affect - What's the difference?
cause | affect |
The source of, or reason for, an event or action; that which produces or effects a result.
* , chapter=5
, title= A goal, aim or principle, especially one which transcends purely selfish ends.
* Shakespeare
* Burke
(obsolete) Sake; interest; advantage.
* Bible, 2 Corinthians vii. 12
(obsolete) Any subject of discussion or debate; a matter; an affair.
* Shakespeare
(legal) A suit or action in court; any legal process by which a party endeavors to obtain his claim, or what he regards as his right; case; ground of action.
To set off an event or action.
*
* {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
, page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist)
To actively produce as a result, by means of force or authority.
* Bible, (w) vii.4
* , chapter=13
, title= To assign or show cause; to give a reason; to make excuse.
To influence or alter.
* Macaulay
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Steven Sloman, volume=100, issue=1, page=74, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= To move to emotion.
* Edmund Burke
Of an illness or condition, to infect or harm (a part of the body).
(archaic) To dispose or incline.
* Milton
(archaic) To tend to by affinity or disposition.
* Newton
(archaic) To assign; to appoint.
* Thackeray
(obsolete) To aim for, to try to obtain.
* Dryden
* 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.10:
*, I.2.4.vii:
* 1663 , (Samuel Butler), :
* Fuller
(obsolete) To show a fondness for (something); to choose.
*1603 , (John Florio), translating Michel de Montaigne, Essays , III.9:
*:Amongst humane conditions this one is very common, that we are rather pleased with strange things then with our owne; we love changes, affect alterations, and like innovations.
* Shakespeare
* Hazlitt
To make a show of; to put on a pretence of; to feign; to assume. To make a false display of.
* Congreve
* Shakespeare
(obsolete) One's mood or inclination; mental state.
(obsolete) A desire, an appetite.
(psychology) A subjective feeling experienced in response to a thought or other stimulus; mood, emotion, especially as demonstrated in external physical signs.
* 1999 , Joyce Crick, translating Sigmund Freud, The Interpretation of Dreams , Oxford 2008, p. 62:
* 2004 , Jeffrey Greenberg & Thomas A Pyszczynski, Handbook of Experimental Existential Psychology , p. 407:
As verbs the difference between cause and affect
is that cause is while affect is to influence or alter or affect can be (obsolete|transitive) to aim for, to try to obtain.As a noun affect is
(obsolete) one's mood or inclination; mental state.cause
English
Noun
(en noun)- Her wedding will be cause for celebration.
- They identified a burst pipe as the cause of the flooding.
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=He was thinking; but the glory of the song, the swell from the great organ, the clustered lights, […], the height and vastness of this noble fane, its antiquity and its strength—all these things seemed to have their part as causes of the thrilling emotion that accompanied his thoughts.}}
- God befriend us, as our cause is just.
- The part they take against me is from zeal to the cause .
- I did it not for his cause .
- What counsel give you in this weighty cause ?
Synonyms
* (source or reason) reason, sourceDerived terms
* because * causal * causality * causative * cause celebre * efficient cause * final cause * for cause (law) * formal cause * material causeSee also
* effectVerb
(caus)- Serene, smiling, enigmatic, she faced him with no fear whatever showing in her dark eyes.She put back a truant curl from her forehead where it had sought egress to the world, and looked him full in the face now, drawing a deep breath which caused the round of her bosom to lift the lace at her throat.
citation, passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic
- I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days.
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=And Vickers launched forth into a tirade very different from his platform utterances. He spoke with extreme contempt of the dense stupidity exhibited on all occasions by the working classes. He said that if you wanted to do anything for them, you must rule them, not pamper them. Soft heartedness caused more harm than good.}}
- (Spenser)
Derived terms
* causationStatistics
*External links
* *Anagrams
* English control verbs ----affect
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) affecter, (etyl) affecter, and its source, the participle stem of (etyl) .Verb
(en verb)- The experience affected me deeply.
- The heat of the sunlight affected the speed of the chemical reaction.
- The climate affected their health and spirits.
The Battle Between Intuition and Deliberation, passage=Libertarian paternalism is the view that, because the way options are presented to citizens affects what they choose, society should present options in a way that “nudges” our intuitive selves to make choices that are more consistent with what our more deliberative selves would have chosen if they were in control.}}
- He was deeply affected by the tragic ending of the play.
- A consideration of the rationale of our passions seems to me very necessary for all who would affect them upon solid and pure principles.
- Hepatitis affects the liver.
- men whom they thought best affected to religion and their country's liberty
- The drops of every fluid affect a round figure.
- One of the domestics was affected to his special service.
Usage notes
Affect'' and effect are sometimes confused. ''Affect'' conveys influence over something that already exists, but ''effect indicates the manifestation of new or original ideas or entities: * “...new policies have effected major changes in government.” * “...new policies have affected major changes in government.” The former indicates that major changes were made as a result of new policies, while the latter indicates that before new policies, major changes were in place, and that the new policies had some influence over these existing changes. The verbal noun uses of affect'' are distinguished from the verbal noun uses of ''effect'' more clearly than the regular verb forms. An ''affect'' is something that acts or acted upon something else. However, an ''effect is the result of an action (by something else).Synonyms
* (influence or alter) alter, change, have an effect on, have an impact on, influence * (move to emotion) move, touch * (infect) attackDerived terms
* affectinglyEtymology 2
From (etyl) (see Etymology 1, above).Verb
(en verb)- This proud man affects imperial sway.
- From that day forth she gan to him affect , / And daily more her favour to augment […].
- A young gentlewoman in Basil was marriedto an ancient man against her will, whom she could not affect ; she was continually melancholy, and pined away for grief […].
- But when he pleased to show 't, his speech / In loftiness of sound was rich; / A Babylonish dialect, / Which learned pedants much affect .
- As for Queen Katharine, he rather respected than affected , rather honoured than loved, her.
- For he does neither affect company, nor is he fit for it, indeed.
- Do not affect the society of your inferiors in rank, nor court that of the great.
- to affect ignorance
- He managed to affect a smile despite feeling quite miserable.
- Careless she is with artful care, / Affecting to seem unaffected.
- Thou dost affect my manners.
Synonyms
* (make a false display of) fake, simulate, feignDerived terms
* affected * affectedly * affectedness * affectationEtymology 3
(etyl) affect, from (etyl) affectus,Noun
(en noun)- if we are afraid of robbers in a dream, the robbers are certainly imaginary, but the fear is real. This draws our attention to the fact that the development of affects in dreams is not amenable to the judgement we make of the rest of the dream-content [...].
- A third study demonstrated that the effects of self-affirmation on self-regulated performance were not due to positive affect .